Dance review - 'The Dog Days Are Over' - Jan Martens

Dance review - 'The Dog Days Are Over' - Jan Martens 

jump..jump..jump...

'The Dog Days Are Over'. A jumping piece created by choreographer Jan Martens in which only one movement is used. The jump. Eight dancers on stage wearing sporty clothes and all they could do or let's say should do is jumping. The choreography littarely asks them to struggle, to fight and to keep their focus.

The beginning of the choreography starts with simple small jumps, but it contains a development of complexity throughout the whole piece. Jumps become bigger, the dancers are moving around a lot more and arm movements are added. Not only the bodies of the dancers but also their minds are confronted with exhaustion.They need to keep counting to know where to go and what to do. Whenever a dancer shouts the word 'count' the other dancers immediately react with the same number. This makes not only the dancers but also the performance look strong and confident without wanting to impress. 

The role of the spectator has changed. In this piece the audience becomes a support and a witness instead of a judge. A witness of eight human beings struggling and doing the most crazy, difficult mathematical steps and formations on stage. Even these complex structures and formations of the piece doesn’t make the dancers look like they want to impress. It is more as if they want to share their struggle and their movements and show themselves within the piece.

Maybe Jan Martens wants to test the audience. Are we as spectators of a dance performance able to watch eight people jumping for one hour and ten minutes without being bored? It sounds like a big challenge because in our daily life we are not being confronted with such long repetitive things anymore. We rush through everything and we seem to lose our focus or interest whenever something becomes to long or to repetitive. The beauty of doing things over and over again is shown in this choreography.

Repetitive movements become amazingly interesting because the audience gets the opportunity to really look closely to everything that is going on within this limited piece if we speak about the movements. You can zoom-in into anything you want. You can look at the expression of the dancers, their bodies or their clothes. You can make the decision to just look at the under legs for a while or to close your eyes and only listen to the sounds you hear. The piece forses you to make decisions. In other performances decisions seem to be already made for us as an audience and that's what makes this piece so different and impressive. 

I would recommend this piece to anyone who wants to experience something they might have never experienced before. Go and watch the beauty of repetitive movements and let yourself be surprised, impressed or bored. Even being bored can be inspiring. 

General information

Choreographer: Jan Martens 

Production: Jan Martens and ICKamsterdam 

Title piece: 'The Dog Days Are Over'

Date performance: 13-01-2016

Place performance: Stadstheater Arnhem 

Dancers: Cherish Menzo, Nelle Hens, Naomi Gibson, Laura Vanborm, Morgane Ribbens, Piet Defrancq, Steven Michel, Julien Josse